The OpenCircularProject

AI Quick Summary

To boost systemic transformation, the learning curve for all industry stakeholders needs to be shortened. The OpenCircularProject is therefore introducing an open data approach to scale the much-needed adoption of circular economy assessment methodologies. What problem would you like to solve?​With the climate crisis looming and natural resources depleting, the topics of decarbonization and circular economy are rapidly gaining importance. More and more customers are asking for solutions in the two aforementioned topics, both of which pose new challenges to the planning, execution and operation of real estate. While more and more sustainable building materials and products are coming onto the market, there is still huge potential in the development of efficient, environmentally friendly building components meeting existing building standards. However, many design teams face the challenge of a lack of data as well as expertise at both the CO2 and circularity levels. Which building materials serve to decarbonize? Which material combinations lead to efficient and code-compliant building components? How do you successfully integrate circularity aspects such as separability, reusability, or recyclability into component development? The specific problem we want to address is the lack of access by the vast majority of planners to information on the circularity of both materials and products as well as building components. The aim is not to develop new calculation methods, but to digitally provide the necessary input parameters so that existing methods and indicators regarding the circularity of a building can be more easily applied to every building project. (This problem was identified by the participants of the CBI Round Table of March 8th 2023)Who will benefit from your solution and how?​Today, stakeholders along the entire value chain in the building industry need to engage with commercial services that offer insights into the circularity of a project. Unfortunately, these consultancy services are costly, not well integrated into existing workflows and hardly used. To promote the much-needed adoption of circularity assessment methods, we propose an open data approach to this problem. By jointly maintaining the input parameters relevant to a material's circularity index in a web-based open data environment, manufacturers and experts create a comprehensive data base. Via API calls, all kinds of software tools can access this information and make it available in their individual user interfaces. This will make it easier for planners to include the circularity index as a further parameter alongside existing building standards (e.g. CO2, sound insulation, fire protection, statics) in their established workflows without much extra effort.By providing the input parameters that are relevant to the circularity index of a material that is maintained by manufacturers and experts collaborativelyThrough this approach, a number of stakeholders along the value chain will benefit:Software providers like Lesosai, Madaster, GreenBIM, EcoTool, vyzn, Enerwerb, Cadworks and many more will be able to implement indicators for the circularity of building components into their workflows since reliable and trustworthy information on the material level can be pulled through an openAPIInvestors: Increased certainty in meeting decarbonization and circular economy goals, as well as meeting current and future standards.Developers: Easier target setting and coordination of specialist planners with reference to a freely accessible platform. Architects / engineers / consultants: Free access to all material and product-relevant information as a basis for calculating the performance of building components in collaboration with other planners. In addition, experts will be able to collaboratively maintain data in an open environment and not in a closed silo (excel sheets or local installations of their software tool) as of today.Contractor: Material database as a reference for the tendering process and assignment of subcontractors. Operators: Information on installed products, their service life and end-of-life strategy.Deconstructors: Information on deconstructability, take-back schemes as well as recyclability available via the material passports.Who are the existing persons/companies in your team and what is their role?Nicolas Fries, Circular Economy & Innovation Manager @ Implenia Real Estate GmbH, brings a broad experience regarding circularity and will ensure the project will meet user requirements based on his practical experience.Arabelle de Saussure, Industry Liaison Manager @ CEA Lab ETH Zurich, will support the project through her research capabilities and contacts within the academic domain.Remo Thalmann, MSc FHNW in Engineering SIA @ ZPF Ingenieure and developer of the EcoTool, will be responsible for the prototyping of user interfaces and lean workflows in an existing software tool.Maximilian Vomhof, Head of Products & Business Development @ vyzn, builds the bridge to the software world and links the proposal to both, the vyzn platform for prototyping a user interface and to the OpenMaterialData project for the technical infrastructure.How does your challenge have a positive impact on the planet (e.g., material reduction, CO2 emission reduction)?​The proposed solution aims to accelerate the adoption of circular practices by providing planners the possibility to understand the circular performance holistically alongside the energy performance, the ecological footprint and further performance indicators of their building. This will enable every project to consider reclamation as an alternative to raw resources, which will trigger many small steps that add up to a significant reduction in waste as well as energy and greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of construction materials. The potential impact of the proposed solution is therefore enormous. A rough estimation shows, that if only 10% of all new buildings (800mio m2 built, lifespan 80years equals 10mio m2 built per year with 10kg CO2eq/m2) had a 5% reduced footprint related to the implementation of circularity, it would save more than 5’000t/year of greenhouse gas emissions each year in Switzerland alone.Has your idea been tested before?Our idea has two aspects that are critical to its success:Firstly, the idea of a circularity index. This has been developed by different parties in the past (e.g. the Building Circularity Passport by Dreso, the cicularity index of OneClickLCA). These initiatives have proven that it is feasible to create such an index without too much additional information on the materials level (will be provided from the manufactures / collaboratively added by experts) and on the building component level (needs to be set in the projects).Secondly, the idea of an open data material library that software tools can use to pull data. While open data libraries / databases with open APIs are common in many other industries, we only start to see their existence in the construction sector (lignumdata and materialsDB are examples that have relevance in Switzerland). To prove that it is possible to get data relevant for the circularity index for materials / building products from manufacturers, we will use materialsDB (OpenData library of building products that is maintained by manufacturers, http://www.materialsdb.org/) as a starting point and work with the companies that are already engaged in this project.The OpenCircularProject also builds on the work that is done in the OpenMaterialData Project, which is providing a technical framework to engage with data in materialsDB and access it through an openAPI (further information can be found here in the projects section https://www.opensource.construction/). What are you planning on working on throughout the booster (e.g., developing the business model, building an initial prototype, material for prototyping, etc.)? What will you deliver at the end of the booster?We want to use the booster to demonstrate the potential of an open data approach to boost the availability of data regarding circularity on a material level. Also, we will investigate the efforts needed to transform it into a stable solution e.g. within the framework of the OpenMaterialData project.Throughout the booster, the OpenCircularProject team will focus on five workstreams:Research: Overview of existing standardisation initiatives regarding the circularity index of a) available products and b) individual building elements. Overview of existing organisations that provide services or tools to support circular construction. Definition of attributes: Definition of attributes that are relevant to calculate the circularity index of building components based on several calculation methods (Madaster, OneClick, Level(s), Building Circularity Passport etc.)Market exploration: Contacting material and product manufacturers to understand how the required input data (attributes) relevant for the calculation of a circularity index can be provided.Implementation: Prototyping the implementation of these attributes in the OpenMaterialData API to make it accessible from anywhere with an API call.Prototyping: Prototyping of how planners can use the additional data with tools such as the vyzn platform to optimise their material selection and component configuration regarding existing requirements but also circular aspects.What are you expecting from the booster (e.g., looking for specific partners, expert support, etc.)?The booster will allow us to dedicate time and resources to a) the relevant research, supported by experts from the CBI network b) the structured approach to the manufacturers and c) the technical prototyping of workflows and interfaces. Furthermore, it will be a unique opportunity to connect with a wide network of circular construction experts in Switzerland that we are directly targeting with this project.How will you attract the 3rd party funding (10% of the total funding amount)?The 3rd party funding will come from Swiss Property AG.

Project Idea Metadata

• Project Idea Name: The OpenCircularProject
• Date: 4/4/2023 12:16:20 PM
• Administrators:

Project Idea Description

What problem would you like to solve?​

With the climate crisis looming and natural resources depleting, the topics of decarbonization and circular economy are rapidly gaining importance. More and more customers are asking for solutions in the two aforementioned topics, both of which pose new challenges to the planning, execution and operation of real estate. While more and more sustainable building materials and products are coming onto the market, there is still huge potential in the development of efficient, environmentally friendly building components meeting existing building standards. However, many design teams face the challenge of a lack of data as well as expertise at both the CO2 and circularity levels. Which building materials serve to decarbonize? Which material combinations lead to efficient and code-compliant building components? How do you successfully integrate circularity aspects such as separability, reusability, or recyclability into component development?

The specific problem we want to address is the lack of access by the vast majority of planners to information on the circularity of both materials and products as well as building components. The aim is not to develop new calculation methods, but to digitally provide the necessary input parameters so that existing methods and indicators regarding the circularity of a building can be more easily applied to every building project. (This problem was identified by the participants of the CBI Round Table of March 8th 2023)

Who will benefit from your solution and how?​

Today, stakeholders along the entire value chain in the building industry need to engage with commercial services that offer insights into the circularity of a project. Unfortunately, these consultancy services are costly, not well integrated into existing workflows and hardly used.

To promote the much-needed adoption of circularity assessment methods, we propose an open data approach to this problem. By jointly maintaining the input parameters relevant to a material's circularity index in a web-based open data environment, manufacturers and experts create a comprehensive data base. Via API calls, all kinds of software tools can access this information and make it available in their individual user interfaces. This will make it easier for planners to include the circularity index as a further parameter alongside existing building standards (e.g. CO2, sound insulation, fire protection, statics) in their established workflows without much extra effort.

By providing the input parameters that are relevant to the circularity index of a material that is maintained by manufacturers and experts collaboratively

Through this approach, a number of stakeholders along the value chain will benefit:

• Software providers like Lesosai, Madaster, GreenBIM, EcoTool, vyzn, Enerwerb, Cadworks and many more will be able to implement indicators for the circularity of building components into their workflows since reliable and trustworthy information on the material level can be pulled through an openAPI
• Investors: Increased certainty in meeting decarbonization and circular economy goals, as well as meeting current and future standards.
• Developers: Easier target setting and coordination of specialist planners with reference to a freely accessible platform.
• Architects / engineers / consultants: Free access to all material and product-relevant information as a basis for calculating the performance of building components in collaboration with other planners. In addition, experts will be able to collaboratively maintain data in an open environment and not in a closed silo (excel sheets or local installations of their software tool) as of today.
• Contractor: Material database as a reference for the tendering process and assignment of subcontractors.
• Operators: Information on installed products, their service life and end-of-life strategy.
• Deconstructors: Information on deconstructability, take-back schemes as well as recyclability available via the material passports.

Who are the existing persons/companies in your team and what is their role?

Nicolas Fries, Circular Economy & Innovation Manager @ Implenia Real Estate GmbH, brings a broad experience regarding circularity and will ensure the project will meet user requirements based on his practical experience.

Arabelle de Saussure, Industry Liaison Manager @ CEA Lab ETH Zurich, will support the project through her research capabilities and contacts within the academic domain.

Remo Thalmann, MSc FHNW in Engineering SIA @ ZPF Ingenieure and developer of the EcoTool, will be responsible for the prototyping of user interfaces and lean workflows in an existing software tool.

Maximilian Vomhof, Head of Products & Business Development @ vyzn, builds the bridge to the software world and links the proposal to both, the vyzn platform for prototyping a user interface and to the OpenMaterialData project for the technical infrastructure.

How does your challenge have a positive impact on the planet (e.g., material reduction, CO2 emission reduction)?​

The proposed solution aims to accelerate the adoption of circular practices by providing planners the possibility to understand the circular performance holistically alongside the energy performance, the ecological footprint and further performance indicators of their building.

This will enable every project to consider reclamation as an alternative to raw resources, which will trigger many small steps that add up to a significant reduction in waste as well as energy and greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of construction materials.

The potential impact of the proposed solution is therefore enormous. A rough estimation shows, that if only 10% of all new buildings (800mio m2 built, lifespan 80years equals 10mio m2 built per year with 10kg CO2eq/m2) had a 5% reduced footprint related to the implementation of circularity, it would save more than 5’000t/year of greenhouse gas emissions each year in Switzerland alone.

Has your idea been tested before?

Our idea has two aspects that are critical to its success:

Firstly, the idea of a circularity index. This has been developed by different parties in the past (e.g. the Building Circularity Passport by Dreso, the cicularity index of OneClickLCA). These initiatives have proven that it is feasible to create such an index without too much additional information on the materials level (will be provided from the manufactures / collaboratively added by experts) and on the building component level (needs to be set in the projects).

Secondly, the idea of an open data material library that software tools can use to pull data. While open data libraries / databases with open APIs are common in many other industries, we only start to see their existence in the construction sector (lignumdata and materialsDB are examples that have relevance in Switzerland). To prove that it is possible to get data relevant for the circularity index for materials / building products from manufacturers, we will use materialsDB (OpenData library of building products that is maintained by manufacturers, http://www.materialsdb.org/) as a starting point and work with the companies that are already engaged in this project.

The OpenCircularProject also builds on the work that is done in the OpenMaterialData Project, which is providing a technical framework to engage with data in materialsDB and access it through an openAPI (further information can be found here in the projects section https://www.opensource.construction/).

What are you planning on working on throughout the booster (e.g., developing the business model, building an initial prototype, material for prototyping, etc.)? What will you deliver at the end of the booster?

We want to use the booster to demonstrate the potential of an open data approach to boost the availability of data regarding circularity on a material level. Also, we will investigate the efforts needed to transform it into a stable solution e.g. within the framework of the OpenMaterialData project.

Throughout the booster, the OpenCircularProject team will focus on five workstreams:

1. Research: Overview of existing standardisation initiatives regarding the circularity index of a) available products and b) individual building elements. Overview of existing organisations that provide services or tools to support circular construction.
2. Definition of attributes: Definition of attributes that are relevant to calculate the circularity index of building components based on several calculation methods (Madaster, OneClick, Level(s), Building Circularity Passport etc.)
3. Market exploration: Contacting material and product manufacturers to understand how the required input data (attributes) relevant for the calculation of a circularity index can be provided.
4. Implementation: Prototyping the implementation of these attributes in the OpenMaterialData API to make it accessible from anywhere with an API call.
5. Prototyping: Prototyping of how planners can use the additional data with tools such as the vyzn platform to optimise their material selection and component configuration regarding existing requirements but also circular aspects.

What are you expecting from the booster (e.g., looking for specific partners, expert support, etc.)?

The booster will allow us to dedicate time and resources to a) the relevant research, supported by experts from the CBI network b) the structured approach to the manufacturers and c) the technical prototyping of workflows and interfaces. Furthermore, it will be a unique opportunity to connect with a wide network of circular construction experts in Switzerland that we are directly targeting with this project.

How will you attract the 3rd party funding (10% of the total funding amount)?

The 3rd party funding will come from Swiss Property AG.

To boost systemic transformation, the learning curve for all industry stakeholders needs to be shortened. The OpenCircularProject is therefore introducing an open data approach to scale the much-needed adoption of circular economy assessment methodologies.